January 12, 2011

“All of the anguish from last summer, all of the losses from this season, all of the frustration from two prolonged losing streaks and all the aggravation from a roster ravaged by injuries cumulated into a crashing, reprehensible, resounding thud Tuesday night at Staples Center.” [Jason Lloyd]

“[Last] night was an absolute disaster for Cleveland sports. With the 112-57 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers (the NBA’s worst in 13 years and third largest margin of victory in LA’s storied history), the Cavaliers fell flat on the faces yet again.” [Jacob Rosen]

“An expert now in Eastern religions, LeBron James, who can do anything (just ask his entourage), chided Cleveland fans for being unkind to him Tuesday night. He said they had bad karma because of it.” [Bill Livingston]

“James had to be laughing as he tweeted his comment, knowing that just last season when he was a member of the Cavaliers, they went into the Staples Center on Christmas and beat the Lakers 102-87.” [Ryan Isley]

“About a hundred different thoughts went through my mind when I first heard [Bron’s tweet]. The biggest thought, though, is ‘why is karma on LeBron’s side’? After all, Dan Gilbert never said anything negative about LeBron while he was a player in Cleveland, and if we’re being honest, there were some opportunities for Gilbert to deliver some harsh words at times for LeBron’s actions and performances.” [Andrew of WFNY]

And to round things out, a WFNY mailbag, where Scott Sargent fields questions about possible trades, draft prospects, and the possible lowering of ticket prices next year.

On The Twitters

“The ankle is getting Better! Another great day of rehab.. Almost back!” [Boobie Gibson]

“Cavaliers play the Nets on the 24th of this month… That’s like the Washington Generals playing the Washington Generals.” [realcavsfans]

9 Responses to “January 12, 2011”

-With an average scoring margin of minus-10.2, the Cavs have fared even worse than last season’s two doormats, 12-win New Jersey and 15-win Minnesota. The Playoff Odds project them to finish with only 17 wins, and they’re the only team assigned no chance whatsoever of making the playoffs.

-But they’ve lost 21 of their past 22, and most haven’t been close — 13 were double-digit defeats, including Tuesday night’s 112-57 embarrassment in L.A. As of this writing, the Cavs are threatening to have both the league’s worst offense and the league’s worst defense — Tuesday’s shameful showing dropped them to 30th in offensive efficiency, and they’ve plummeted to 28th on the defensive end.

I’ve been fine with spectacular losing all along, because the only way this team is going anywhere is a complete overhaul and rebuild, so I suppose that’s the only way those bullets are good news.

Why hasn’t LeBron been fined up the wazoo for his twitter comments? He should also have drawn a severe fine for Contractiongate.

Part of me wants to see the Cavs at least win enough games to beat a franchise-worst 15-67 (incidentally, since I also want to see them get whatever few wins they can get against the Heat, here’s another thing to bite on: this was also the record of the ’07-’08 Heat, which still had Wade, and had either Shaq or, after he was traded, Shawn Marion on the team–of course, they were otherwise trying to unload and tank on purpose in order to clear the way three years down the road *cough*collusion*cough*) Failing that, they at least need to beat the 9-73 record, which I think is nearly 100% certain.

I think they can get 16 or 17 wins without Sacramento passing them on ping-pong balls.

Players have the ‘right’ to talk to other players and state their opinions about almost anything except how the Refs call a game. It’s coaches, management and ownership who have a ton of rules about talking to/about other players and teams.

So, there is no reason to fine LeBron in any way shape or form about his apparent contraction statement or his tweet about karma. Just like if how D-Wade was trying to persuade Bron/Bosh to come to Miami, there is nothing against the rules about Amare talking to Mello about coming to NY.

What bothers me most about LeBrons statements is that he doesn’t think about what he is saying and seems to consistantly put himself in position of backing off of statements. He did this with the ‘race was a part of the negative recation to the decison’ comment, his ‘contraction’ comment and now his ‘karma’ comment. I can give him a pass on the first one because I really do think he just responded to a question and then the media made it bigger, I understand him taking back his contraction comment because he realized he needs to take view that are supported by the players association and not play into the hands of owners, but this tweet was really just stupid. He put himself in this position without any reason for it. IF I gave him the benifit of the doubt and he really didn’t mean it towards the Cavs in any way, then… well wait, I don’t give him that benift – he’s just an ass.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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